It’s Keiichi’s turn to have his own episode! However he’s the only one in his group of friends who doesn’t have a girlfriend, and he’s definitely feeling out of sorts.
I’ve seen enough of Nijiiro Days now to figure out, without reading the manga, that Keiichi is into BDSM (or at least some elements of it). He has a sadistic personality, which is why he sometimes has a dark aura around him, or why he sometimes breaks out his whip. But his friends know that that’s who he is, and they accept him for it. Huzzah for true friends who understand and like you for who you are. ^_^v
As a high school student though, it can make dating a little more difficult when your peers aren’t into the same kinks that you are. This is very evident during the scene where Keiichi gets confessed to by a female student, but she is weirded out and scared off as soon as he starts mentioning that he likes to “bully his girlfriends” and use different toys on them. Which is totally fair – for someone who is less experienced and/or is still figuring out what they like in a partner, to have someone thrust some harder kinks on them would be very overwhelming and probably a little uncomfortable (no pun intended). At the same time, I also respect Keiichi for being true to himself and not compromising on what he wants from his girlfriends. If it means that he has a harder time finding someone to be with, then that’s ok. He knows his preferences and is not compromising for the sake of someone else. I also find the whole “love confession” trend to be a little bit full of bullshit, but that’s just me.
Anyways, enough of me being on my soapbox. As previously mentioned, the theme of the episode is that Keiichi has no girlfriend at present. At the beginning of the episode, all four boys are talking on the school rooftop. The conversation turns from Keiichi’s ex-girlfriend to a new whip binding technique, and Natsuki attempts to flee before he can become Keiichi’s whip-guinea pig. Their friend Taizou shows up at the last moment to save Natsuki, and invite Keiichi to play basketball with their teammates.
Natsuki leaves to meet up with Anna, for they are both on the school’s Beautification Committee. Mari is with Anna, and she gets royally pissed that Anna is dumping her for Natsuki’s company. However when Tomoya shows up, Mari morphs instantaneously from whiny crybaby to a spiteful brat. They verbally spar before Tomoya admits that he thinks Mari is cute, which means that yeah I bet they’re going to be a couple by the end of the series. Ugh.
We see Tsuyoshi meet up with his girlfriend, and I’m still amused that the quietest guy in their group of friends is the one with the most “normal” relationship. It’s cute that they geek out together. I wish we got to see more of Tsuyoshi.
After the committee meeting, Natsuki sucks up enough nerve to, in his own awkward way, ask Anna if they can walk home together and if she’d like to get something to eat with him. It’s adorable, but I always laugh during their scenes together because I can sometimes relate to being so painfully socially inept. ^^;;
Once Natsuki and Anna leave for home, there’s the aforementioned confession scene with Keichii and Furuta, the girl who claims to have feelings for him. After Furuta runs off, Keiichi returns to the basketball court to speak to Taizou and get some advice. Taizou gets worried about Keiichi’s state of mind and sends out an SOS text to Natsuki, Tomoya and Tsuyoshi. They all show up to school the next morning and show support for Keiichi, but Keiichi reassures them that he’s doing ok.
My thoughts: This is easily my favourite episode so far. Natsuki and Anna’s relationship is coming along pretty well, as evidenced by Natsuki’s growing confidence. The two of them do make a cute couple, when Natsuki’s face is not five different shades of red.
What I liked most about this episode was the focus on Keiichi. I’ve mentioned in previous reviews that Nijiiro Days had these references to a dark personality and hidden kinks which I didn’t understand, not having read the manga. Now I feel like his character is fleshed out a little bit better for viewers like me who haven’t read the manga and don’t know all the characters’ backstories and whatnot.
I’m guessing each guy is going to get their own episode. If that’s the case, I wonder whose turn it will be next week.